Totally Spies!
Series Plot The series centers around the adventures of three teenage girls from Beverly Hills – Sam, Alex and Clover – who live a double life as spies working for the World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP). The girls are recruited by the organization's leader, Jerry, to solve worsening crime conditions that arise across the globe. Their primary missions involve dealing with disgruntled and vengeful criminals who have been wronged in some form during their past. Other missions have some same villains plotting revenge on the spies by ruining their personal lives. Framing each episode is a subplot that focuses on the girls' daytime lives as high school (and later university) students, dealing with relationships and their longtime high school rival Mandy. Conception and Development The show's conception came from the rise of girl band and female singers in the music industry. Wanting to capitalize on the niche, David Michel and Vincent Chalvon-Demersay put their idea into development, which later shifted into production within a year. According to Michel, the series' animation style was intended to incorporate anime influences. The production company, Marathon Media, intended on building on the series brand by forming a three-piece girl band, utilizing German talk show Arabella to create it. Using a panel of judges, 20 demo videos were selected and the winners were selected based on the strength of their performance and the show's viewers. The band was selected and released a single in the spring of 2002, through EMI. According to managing director Dirk Fabarius, "The plan is to eventually create an entire album and establish and promote Totally Spies as a real band." In an interview with WorldScreen.com, Michel said that prior to his show, there were a lot of boy action-adventure shows and practically nothing for girls, yet in pop culture, there was Britney Spears and Spice Girls. He said that the characters are heavily inspired by the movie Clueless and wanted to mix that with a James Bond format. When they first pitched the show, it had a moderate response, but when the first season was broadcast, the Charlie's Angels film came out, and suddenly the market was full of girl show properties. The character design was originally done by Gil Formosa. Main Characters Sam Samantha has long slightly wavy red hair, emerald green eyes and fair skin; she dons a green catsuit on missions. She is described by her Télétoon and film profiles as rational, logical and mature, like a big sister, although she is known to easily become gullible at times, especially when it comes to romance. She thinks up plans and diversions so that the girls can defeat the villains. Although she is fairly serious during her missions, she enjoys hanging out, shopping, and visiting salons. She is not as boy crazy as the other girls, she has fallen for a few in the series, but without much success. One of the running gags is that she is frequently brainwashed. Her last name is not mentioned in her profiles, however, in "Do You Believe in Magic?", where she is undercover as a reporter, she introduces herself as Samantha Simpson. She is voiced by Jennifer Hale in the English version and by Claire Guyot in the French version. In an interview regarding Sam's development in the first three seasons, Hale described Sam as "smart and adventurous, but now you see more of her wacky side and her girly side as well Clover Clover has short blonde hair, light blue eyes, and medium-toned skin; she dons a red catsuit on missions. Of the three girls, she is the most expressive with the Beverly Hills teenage fashionista attitude, with a strong valspeak dialect,10 being the first to court the newest available good-looking boy, oncerning herself with the latest clothes, diets, and trends, and often competing against Mandy in all sorts of popularity contests. Her Télétoon profile describes her as athletic, agile, strong, and especially impulsive, reacting spontaneously and jumping into action; and ready to teach the bad guys a lesson even if she has no chance of winning. Clover is voiced by Andrea Baker (who was credited as Andrea Taylor for the first two seasons) in the English dub, and by Fily Keita in the French version. In an interview, Baker said Clover has a thing for musicians, likes to get pampered, and is all into fashion. She likes that the girls have fun and kick butt. Alex Alexandra has short black hair, light brown eyes, and dark skin; she dons a yellow catsuit on missions. She is described in the Télétoon profile as the best friend character, affectionate and not afraid to show her feelings. She enjoys sports and athletics12 but also shares her friends' fashion interests. She is the most naive and absent-minded of the three, sometimes interpreting figures of speech literally, often thinking it was literally going dark just because something is blocking her sight, or picking up and eating foodstuff at crime scenes that is potentially harmful. In the episode "Do You Believe In Magic", it is revealed Alex is the youngest of the three girls (and Clover the oldest). Her driving ability becomes a running gag in some episodes, despite the fact that she keeps getting to take the wheel and proves to be capable of improvising dangerous car stunts. She is sensitive and sometimes gets down on herself. Starting with season 3, Alex reveals interests in Taekwondo, skateboarding, soccer and video games. Alex appears to be racially mixed at first, having a dark-skinned mother and a white father in the season 4 episode "Alex Gets Schooled"; however, her father later appears with a completely different physical appearance, notably with dark skin in the season 6 episode "Evil Ice Skater". In Totally Spies! The Movie, which takes place when the girls first transfer to Beverly Hills High, she adopts a baby pig whom she names Oinky (French: Groin Groin), who does not appear in seasons 1-5 but recurs in season 6 when the girls have already gone to college. Although Alex says she is allergic to cats in season 1 episode "Wild Style", she later works in a university cat lab in season 6 episode "Nine Lives" without problems. Alex is voiced by Katie Leigh for the first two seasons and by Katie Griffin in the following seasons for the English dub. In voicing Alex, Griffin used a higher vocal register than usual. She was worried about nodules developing and about being recast when the series returned for season 6 following a hiatus, but was happy when she could return. She found the part to be really fun, easy to play, and liked that Alex was so lovely to animals. Alex is voiced by Céline Mauge in the French dub. Category:Totally Spies! Category:Show Category:Ariing